SDCC 2018: The DCEU is dead. Long live Worlds of DC!

Warner Bros. Pictures’ ongoing series of movies based on DC Comics characters will no longer be called the DCEU. Instead, all DC movies will now fly under the banner of Worlds of DC.

Why the change?

Well technically, this isn’t a change as such, it’s more of a clarification of what all DC movies will collectively be known as. You see, Warner Bros. Pictures didn’t officially call the DCEU the DCEU in the first place, it’s just what everyone else called the shared universe that was being developed since Man of Steel (2013).

So, while Marvel Studios has the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), Warner Bros. Pictures sort of had the DCEU. However, the key difference between the two is that moving forward, not all DC films will be connected so the ‘universe’ part has had to go.

Man of Steel up to next year’s Wonder Woman 1984 will all be part of the same series, but next year’s Joker won’t. Joker will instead be another tale adapted from the comics and (for now) will sit as a standalone movie.

The use of the name Worlds of DC is a good way for the studio to make it clear that not all DC movies have to follow on from each other. It’s also a good way to create a bit of distance from some of the not-so-great DC movies that have cropped up in recent years.